The Journey Begins–November 2009
I’ve never considered myself to be extremely overweight or obese. But there was a long time where I was extremely out of shape. I’m 5’1″ and at my heaviest I weighed just under 135 pounds. People would look at me and say, “You don’t need to lose any weight!” But I knew better. You can look pretty “normal” on the outside and still not feel comfortable in your own skin. I remember there were many days when I got dressed in the dark because I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror.
I’ve never been a “gifted” athlete but when I was a kid I stayed pretty active. I played soccer from first grade all the way to my senior year in high school and it will always be my first love when it comes to sports. In November 2009 I was 33 years old and after being married for almost 10 years, I had definitely entered my COMFORT ZONE. I was content to eat fast food several times a week and after working long shifts as a veterinary technician, I only wanted to plop down on the couch when I got home. It was a vicious cycle of eating crappy food, feeling tired and taking naps that repeated itself over and over again…day after day.
Life was good, but it wasn’t all that great.
One morning while getting dressed for work I had a hard time pulling my scrub pants over my thighs and I knew I needed serious intervention. I remember thinking “This is so STUPID! How could I let this happen? I am NOT buying bigger scrub pants!!” That was the moment I decided to make a change.
Since I’m not the kind of person who just eases her way gently into a project, I knew I wanted to try P90X. In fact, forget the word TRY. I was going to DO IT! I remember watching the commercial on TV and there was a woman who was doing a bunch of pull-ups. She looked so strong and I thought to myself, “That’s it! I wanna be able to do THAT!” Besides, working out in front of other human beings was definitely not an option, so I knew that a home workout program was going to be an absolute MUST.
That was the week before Thanksgiving 2009. But before starting P90X I wanted to get my diet under-control first. So for the next month or so I said NO to fast-food, pop (regular AND diet), and I also got my portion sizes under control. Doing that I managed to get myself down to 123 pounds.
Once I made the decision to stop feeding myself crap it seemed almost effortless. I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself!
Hello P90X
My P90X journey officially began on January 4, 2010. My husband had done P90X before so I pretty much knew what to expect. In fact, I had done (or attempted to do) two of the workouts before: Cardio X and Ab Ripper X. I thought Cardio X was insanely difficult (looking bad I think that’s rather sad) and Ab Ripper X darn near crippled me the first time I did it.
I knew I was ready though. It’s hard to explain but something just clicks in your brain when you KNOW it’s time to make a change. So I pressed play for the first time. I blogged about my experience during the entire 90 days and you can read the first post here (which I think is totally hilarious 5 years later): My P90X Experience-Day 1
I didn’t lose a lot of weight doing P90X but I shrank a lot (see my before and after pics below). And my energy level went through the roof. I followed the Classic plan for the first 60 days but then did Doubles for the last 30 days. If you’re bored you can read my complete review here which apparently has resonated with a lot of people over the years, especially women.
I had so much energy on the last day of the program that I decided to go for a run (Forrest-Gump-style) to see how far I could go. I didn’t make it across the country but I did make it 3 miles which seemed just as far. The last time I attempted to go running I only made it 1/2 mile. At that moment I decided I wanted to do a half-marathon.
Why not?
It was also around this time that I was finally able to do my first real, unassisted pull-up. Again, something weird clicked in my brain and I realized there was so much more than I wanted to do. And not just fitness-related stuff either. It was like I saw a whole new world that was never there before.
Weird, right? I wish I could explain it a way that didn’t make me sound hokey-pokey, but hopefully one day you’ll understand if you haven’t experienced it already.
The Journey Continues
In the next few months and years, I went on to do many other Beachbody programs, my favorites including Insanity, Asylum Volume 1 and Body Beast, all which I completed to the end. But P90X will always be my soulmate workout. I’ve dabbled a bit with P90X2 and X3 and those are good too…but to me there’s nothing quite as special as P90X.
I went on to complete my first half-marathon in September 2010 and have since completed many more half-marathons and two marathons. Oh and last year I decided to become a certified running coach too…makes sense right? The girl who “never really liked running.” HA!
In May 2010 I took another leap of faith and decided to become a Beachbody coach. I’ve never been thrilled with the idea of network marketing or direct sales (mostly because I didn’t understand it) but I believed in P90X so much that I decided it was worth taking a chance.
Other than marrying my husband and pushing play on P90X for the first time, becoming a coach was the best decision I’ve ever made. The only thing better than achieving a goal you’ve set for yourself is helping another person experience the same feeling of liberation and success.
I mean really…isn’t that our TRUE purpose in life?
My favorite thing about this whole experience is that journey never ends. Even when you cross the finish line or cross the last workout off your calendar you’re never really DONE. There’s always a new challenge waiting around the corner, and tomorrow is a new day.